November 27, 2009

The party never ends. Well if it must be Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for another cool Matt Gaffney creation.

115A: [Food you might be eating today – and the theme of this puzzle] – THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS. And the food is all over, stuck in the middle of familiar phrases.23A: [Manufacturing one specific piece of sports equipment?] – CREATING A SQUASH RACKET36A:[Comment about Mr. Luciano’s bowling ability?] – LUCKY ROLLS STRIKES. Do you know what three strikes in a row in bowling is called? A turkey! 47A:[Yiddish cries] – OYS!56A:[“You’re forbidden to smoke when you’re not indoors”] - IT’S COLD TURKEY OUTSIDE.80A:[Rigging a supposedly fair election?] – SECRET BALLOT STUFFING.94A:[Golden opportunity you’ve got to grab quickly?] – EXPRESS GRAVY TRAIN.

1A: [God with a twin sister] – APOLLO. Artemis is the twin.15A:[Cary’s ex] – DYAN Cannon. Cary (nee Archibald Leach) Grant’s exes also include Virginia Cherrill, Barbara Hutton, Betsy Drake. His last wife was Barbara Harris.29A: [70 W, e.g.] – RTE. It will take you from North Carolina to Arizona.30A: [Barkin and Raskin] – ELLENS. Why go with Raskin when you can use Ripstein?35A: [Have A NAX to grind]. You don’t see many naxes around anymore. What? AN AX? Oh, much better.46A:[Tossed back bacon] – ATE. Tref!49A:[Hottie of long ago] – PINUP. See also DYAN and 62A:[Actress Larter] – ALI.50A: [rotf, perhaps] – LOL. Rolling on the floor and laughing out loud.76A:[Stopped working, as a car] – DIED. This can happen sitting in a parking lot waiting for your wife using the battery with the engine off. Yes, it can. Sigh.86A: [Ancient city outside of Atlanta] – ROME. Ancient history experts, please explain.101A:[Upcoming NASA launch vehicle] – ARES. Future astronauts will ride to orbit on Ares I, which uses a single five-segment solid rocket booster, a derivative of the space shuttle's solid rocket booster, for the first stage. A liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen J-2X engine derived from the J-2 engine used on Apollo's second stage will power the crew exploration vehicle's second stage. The Ares I can lift more than 55,000 pounds to low Earth orbit. (NASA website)120A: [Sword that may lead to gold] – EPEE. Olympic reference!2D: [Matthew or Luke] – PERRY. Get your mind out of the bible and back into network TV where it belongs.5D: [“Serve again”] – LET. I don’t think crosswords would be possible without tennis.15D: [Cicero’s 761] – DCCLXI. Nobody’s perfect.37D: [River that separates North Korea and China] – YALU. I don’t think crosswords would be possible without foreign rivers.59D:[Superman, at birth] – KAL-EL. The greatest super-hero. Period.72D: [Giant chicken on “The Family Guy”] – ERNIE. I don’t think crosswords would be possible without giant chickens.78D:[Culs-de-sac: abbr.] – CTS. I’m guessing courts?96D:[Blackwater founder Prince] – ERIK. I don’t think crosswords would be possible without Blackwater founders.Musical corner:48A: [Johnny Cash’s “The Ballad of IRA Hayes”]51D:[Soul great Redding] – OTIS60D:[Jamie Foxx song “Can I TAKE U Home”]. A song title only a crossword constructor could love.